LONDON, Dec 7 — Is he smiling, or setting his jaw in a determined lock? Jim Kay’s Potter could be the Mona Lisa of Young Adult fiction.
Harry Potter’s got a new face, courtesy of award-winning artist Jim Kay and his fully illustrated Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, to be published by Bloomsbury.
A touseled mop of black hair sits atop the studious face whose green eyes are framed by a pair of round, brown, broken-arm spectacles.
And a September 2015 publication date (with the six other books in the series to follow), as distant as it may be right now, means there’s time enough for ardent and amorous Potterheads to raise a new generation of miniature enthusiasts in time for the projected release.
Kay already has a strong track record, having shared the 2012 Carnegie Medal with two-time winner Patrick Ness for A Monster Calls.
“It’s like trying to choose the shiniest object in Aladdin’s Cave; you pick up one treasure, and another gem catches your eye,” he said of the JK & Rowling collaboration ahead.
“I want to bring what I can to really show the depth of Rowling’s stories ... it’s amazing to think, all of Potter’s world, the streets, the shops, the creatures, the characters, all of these wonderful things come from the brain of one person.”
“I want to keep that spell going, perhaps adding my own little twist, if possible. I hope over the years we will see lots of different illustrators having a go, in the way that ‘Alice in Wonderland’ has inspired artists for over a century.” — Reuters
